Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one? - Mozilla

This is a discussion on Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one? - Mozilla ; See subject line. Thx.
--
Pete Holsberg
Columbus, NJ
Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache,
do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away
from ...

Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache,
do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away
from children."
--Author Unknown

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Pete Holsberg wrote:
> See subject line. Thx.
>
No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the new
one. What is important to keep are these files:
Everything in the Mail folder.
Everything in the News folder.
key3.db
mailViews.dat
panacea.dat
prefs.js
signons.txt
training.dat
If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css file
in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

EE has written on 3/14/2008 6:11 PM:
> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>
>> See subject line. Thx.
> No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the new
> one. What is important to keep are these files:
> Everything in the Mail folder.
> Everything in the News folder.
> key3.db
> mailViews.dat
> panacea.dat
> prefs.js
> signons.txt
> training.dat
> If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css file
> in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.
>

Sure, but what about the accounts themselves? Do I have to create each
account in the new profile and then copy the files and folders?

--
Pete Holsberg
Columbus, NJ

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache,
do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away
from children."
--Author Unknown

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Pete Holsberg wrote:
> EE has written on 3/14/2008 6:11 PM:
>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>
>>> See subject line. Thx.
>> No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the new
>> one. What is important to keep are these files:
>> Everything in the Mail folder.
>> Everything in the News folder.
>> key3.db
>> mailViews.dat
>> panacea.dat
>> prefs.js
>> signons.txt
>> training.dat
>> If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css
>> file in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.
>>
>
> Sure, but what about the accounts themselves? Do I have to create each
> account in the new profile and then copy the files and folders?
>

Well, if you have copied prefs.js, the account should be there.

I take a different slant on this. You can try copying the entire
xxxxxxxx.default ( or whatever your profile is named) folder from the
old profile to the new profile. Rename it to the exact name ot the
existing xxxxxxxx.whatever file. This copies over all the needed files,
and may save a little time.

Backup your profile before experimenting, so you can restore if it goes
awry.

Lee

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Leonidas Jones has written on 3/14/2008 8:51 PM:
> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>
>> EE has written on 3/14/2008 6:11 PM:
>>
>>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> See subject line. Thx.
>>>>
>>> No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the new
>>> one. What is important to keep are these files:
>>> Everything in the Mail folder.
>>> Everything in the News folder.
>>> key3.db
>>> mailViews.dat
>>> panacea.dat
>>> prefs.js
>>> signons.txt
>>> training.dat
>>> If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css
>>> file in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.
>>>
>>>
>> Sure, but what about the accounts themselves? Do I have to create each
>> account in the new profile and then copy the files and folders?
> Well, if you have copied prefs.js, the account should be there.
>
> I take a different slant on this. You can try copying the entire
> xxxxxxxx.default ( or whatever your profile is named) folder from the
> old profile to the new profile. Rename it to the exact name ot the
> existing xxxxxxxx.whatever file. This copies over all the needed files,
> and may save a little time.
>
> Backup your profile before experimenting, so you can restore if it goes
> awry.
>

Taking a step back...the result would then be a profile that is a
duplicate of what I have now. What would I have gained by doing this?

--
Pete Holsberg
Columbus, NJ

Patriotism is supporting your country at all times, and your government
when it deserves it.
--Mark Twain

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Pete Holsberg wrote:
> Leonidas Jones has written on 3/14/2008 8:51 PM:
>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>
>>> EE has written on 3/14/2008 6:11 PM:
>>>
>>>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> See subject line. Thx.
>>>>>
>>>> No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the
>>>> new one. What is important to keep are these files:
>>>> Everything in the Mail folder.
>>>> Everything in the News folder.
>>>> key3.db
>>>> mailViews.dat
>>>> panacea.dat
>>>> prefs.js
>>>> signons.txt
>>>> training.dat
>>>> If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css
>>>> file in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.
>>>>
>>> Sure, but what about the accounts themselves? Do I have to create
>>> each account in the new profile and then copy the files and folders?
>> Well, if you have copied prefs.js, the account should be there.
>>
>> I take a different slant on this. You can try copying the entire
>> xxxxxxxx.default ( or whatever your profile is named) folder from the
>> old profile to the new profile. Rename it to the exact name ot the
>> existing xxxxxxxx.whatever file. This copies over all the needed
>> files, and may save a little time.
>>
>> Backup your profile before experimenting, so you can restore if it
>> goes awry.
>>
>
> Taking a step back...the result would then be a profile that is a
> duplicate of what I have now. What would I have gained by doing this?
>

I have no idea. You never did say what you were trying to accomplish in
the first place, other then inheriting data from the old profile. What
is it that you are trying to do here. With more information, perhaps we
can help.

Lee

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

Leonidas Jones wrote:
> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>> Leonidas Jones has written on 3/14/2008 8:51 PM:
>> Taking a step back...the result would then be a profile that is a
>> duplicate of what I have now. What would I have gained by doing this?
>>
>
> I have no idea. You never did say what you were trying to accomplish in
> the first place, other then inheriting data from the old profile. What
> is it that you are trying to do here. With more information, perhaps we
> can help.
>
> Lee

i've always wanted a feature like the one requested at the head of this chain.
think about laptop users working in different network environments (e.g. home, work,
public wi-fi). in each environment, you have access to different sets of
mail/news sources which often overlap.

if profiles shared access to accounts, then the selection of an appropriate profile
would bring only the valid accounts in any environment. this is useful because
(at least in my experience), TB does not behave well when it can't access
mail or news sources (hangs or blocks for a long time).

/mark

Re: Can a new profile"inherit" accounts from an old one?

On 3/14/2008 9:10 PM, Pete Holsberg wrote:
> Leonidas Jones has written on 3/14/2008 8:51 PM:
>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>
>>> EE has written on 3/14/2008 6:11 PM:
>>>
>>>> Pete Holsberg wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> See subject line. Thx.
>>>>>
>>>> No. You have to transfer the content from the old profile to the
>>>> new one. What is important to keep are these files:
>>>> Everything in the Mail folder.
>>>> Everything in the News folder.
>>>> key3.db
>>>> mailViews.dat
>>>> panacea.dat
>>>> prefs.js
>>>> signons.txt
>>>> training.dat
>>>> If you have a user.js file, or a userContent.css or userChrome.css
>>>> file in the chrome subdirectory, keep those as well.
>>>>
>>> Sure, but what about the accounts themselves? Do I have to create
>>> each account in the new profile and then copy the files and folders?
>> Well, if you have copied prefs.js, the account should be there.
>>
>> I take a different slant on this. You can try copying the entire
>> xxxxxxxx.default ( or whatever your profile is named) folder from the
>> old profile to the new profile. Rename it to the exact name ot the
>> existing xxxxxxxx.whatever file. This copies over all the needed
>> files, and may save a little time.
>>
>> Backup your profile before experimenting, so you can restore if it
>> goes awry.
>>
>
> Taking a step back...the result would then be a profile that is a
> duplicate of what I have now. What would I have gained by doing this?
>

I expect the feature would have limited use with a large, well used profile. It
would be helpful though to have a "Copy Existing..." choice when creating a new
profile in Profile Manager. One could then create a base profile with primary
accounts and most used extensions to use when creating more profiles. This can
be done now with some research and working in Windows Explorer (or equivalent in
other OS's) but directly within Profile Manager would be easier. A "Create
shortcut on Desktop" option for the newly created profile would be nice too.
Maybe in Thunderbird 4.0 :-)